Wrestlers Who Benefited From A Co-Worker's Backstage Punishment

There’s a key reason wrestling will never have a union. Unlike other sports which are team affairs, wrestling is “everyone for themselves.” Sure, there’s loyalty but the fact remains that if someone goes down, there are a dozen ready to take his/her place. That’s shown up constantly as even friends can’t help but benefit if one is hurt. That also goes for backstage punishments as it’s well known how a screw-up by someone can lead to a punishment that ranges from a bad loss to taken off the air for a time. This means that someone else has to take that spot and that can lead to huge success. It can be a title win, a career revival or even the big break someone needs. The person it comes at the expense of can’t complain too much as, if the roles were reversed, they’d do the same.

It’s not just WWE but abounds through wrestling history as every promotion has times a guy is punished for a screw up and someone steps up to the plate instead. A few are more blatant and amazing to see how much plans change thanks to such screw-ups and the punishments they involve. It just shows how easily one can take advantage of an opportunity no matter what. Here are 15 wrestlers who benefited from another’s backstage punishment and how easily the tides can shift in wrestling.

15 Flair Rules Again Thanks To Sid’s Stupidity

The history of WCW is filled with incredibly stupid moments but this is legendary. In 1993, the plan was obvious that Sid was going to beat Vader for the World title at Starrcade. They even had Sid doing interviews with the belt to air in syndication after the PPV and Sid rising high. This led Sid, never the most humble of guys to begin with, to be totally arrogant and bragging to others on how he was now in charge. During a trip in London, Sid and Arn Anderson soon got into it and things escalated big time. Before anyone knew it, Sid was stabbing Arn with a pair of scissors and got cut himself which ended with both arrested.

Needless to say, Sid was shown his walking papers fast. Meanwhile, WCW found themselves without a major main event for the biggest show of the year. So they did what they always did when things got bad: They went to Ric Flair. Flair beat Vader for the title and got the book to help guide WCW into 1994 and thus one more run at the top thanks to Sid’s utter stupidity.

14 Ziggler Cashes In On Swagger’s Arrest

One would think when you’re given a chance to win a title at WrestleMania, you’d do anything possible to make sure it happens. Jack Swagger didn’t get that memo. His first run as World champion wasn’t that good but in 2013, Swagger was doing better. His heel act with Zeb Colter was catching on with their slamming of immigrants and thus adding spice to Swagger challenging Alberto Del Rio for the World title at Mania. The plan appeared to be for Swagger to win the belt and continue his arrogant run. But just weeks before the biggest show of the year, Swagger was arrest for DUI and marijuana possession. He nearly missed the show due to the felony charges and if not for the fact he’d been advertised so much, might have been fired.

To the shock of no one, Swagger lost the match. The very next night, Del Rio beat Swagger again despite a “leg injury.” At which point, Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to beat Del Rio for the title.

Swagger never recovered from this as he was suspended and an obvious slump afterward before his release and showing how bad you can screw up an opportunity.

13 Honky’s Record Title Reign Was For Steamboat Wanting Time Off

The Intercontinental title has long been revered in WWE for how it goes to great workers and highly respected. In 1987, Ricky Steamboat finally won the title off of Randy Savage in their classic WrestleMania match and was set for a long reign. But Steamboat’s wife had just given birth to their first title and Steamboat wanted some time off to see them instead of the grueling WWE schedule.

Vince was upset that after all that build, Steamboat wanted to be off TV and decided to give him time off…but not with the belt.

According to legend, Butch Reed was to win it but he didn’t show up that night so instead, it went to the Honky Tonk Man. Incredibly, HTM would go on to have the longest IC reign of all time as a hated heel despite his lack of talent and Steamboat never really got over the treatment that nonetheless created a record title run.

12 Alexa Becomes RAW Goddess When Emma Fails

Emma had first caught on in NXT with her whacky dance moves that got fans going nicely. Sadly, her call-up to the main roster failed to work out right as RAW fans didn’t accept that as much. She returned to NXT for more training which showed her a far better worker and seemed ready to rise up back on the main roster. In late 2016, she was removed to be repackaged into Emmalina, a much more suggestive character. The idea was for her to become a new Diva type character off her beauty and the top heel of RAW with plans already underway to move Charlotte to SmackDown.

After months of hype, Emmalina finally debuted…and immediately said she was going back to Emma.

While WWE seemed to have lost faith in the act, Emma herself hated it and made no bones slamming it a lot. This led to her being taken off TV, which meant RAW needed a new “goddess” type heel. Thus, Alexa Bliss was moved to RAW and soon won the belt. Since then, Alexa has shone as the great heel champ while Emma was released and still a bad makeover.

11 Paige’s Debut Title Win Was Due To AJ Lee Refusing To Go Mental

AJ Lee was a great wrestler who was a bit ahead of her time. In 2011 and 2012, WWE was still into “Diva” actions, ladies hired off their looks for brief matches and not doing too well. But Lee was rising up nicely with her fun “geek girl” attitude and a great worker too. That included famously dissing the various female workers in her version of a pipe bomb speech. Lee held her own way against WWE and that included in 2012 when they wanted a storyline of her losing her mind, talking of seeing leprechauns and unicorns and acting like a nutcase. Given how Lee has struggled with bipolar disorder, it’s astounding they would suggest this and she was removed from TV for a bit.

In 2014, it was still a sore point as Lee was also complaining about wanting some time off. So the day after WrestleMania, WWE had her lose the Divas title to the debuting Paige. Lee would later return to get the belt back but just one of the many times she and WWE clashed a lot.

10 Jinder Continues to Rise After Baron Corbin’s Mess-Up

Baron Corbin seemed to be on the rise in WWE. The guy had a good look and good in the ring but Vince McMahon was said to be a real fan of him. Indeed, 2017 seemed to be pushing Corbin up more as he won Money in the Bank and speculation was that he would be the next champion. Given how unpopular Jinder Mahal’s reign had been, a title change seemed likely. But then Corbin saw Dave Meltzer remarking on how Baron didn’t deserve to be champion yet as he just wasn’t ready for it. Corbin responded by trashing Meltzer massively on Twitter as having no idea what he was talking about as he wasn’t a wrestler.

Sadly, Corbin ignored how massively respected Dave Meltzer has been for the last 30 years as a wrestling authority.

This led to a massive backlash against him and WWE had to recognize that. Thus, Corbin failed in his cash-in, pinned in seconds and Mahal ended up continuing his title reign for a while. While Corbin would later win the U.S. title, his stock in WWE has fallen thanks to his tantrum.

9 Wade Barrett Steps Up After Bryan’s Firing

The Nexus sadly collapsed but their entry remains absolutely amazing and one of the best things WWE has ever done. A regular RAW main event was suddenly interrupted by this pack of guys from NXT (back then still a reality TV show) showing up and proceeding to go wild. They beat the crap out of John Cena, announcers, refs and more, tore apart the ring and set themselves up as a major force. The plan was for Daniel Bryan to be their leader, paying off his long-time presence in ROH and rising as the next big heel. However, during the chaos, Bryan was caught on camera choking Justin Roberts with a tie. This got WWE in major hot water with sponsors and USA Network feeling it crossed a serious line.

WWE appeared to fire Bryan although in reality, it was just an extended suspension to let the heat die down. In the meantime, Wade Barrett took over as the Nexus leader and soon boosting himself as a great heel. It basically kick-started Barrett and while Bryan returned, it was a big push for the man.

8 Razor Rising After Shawn’s Collapse

This is one of the more famous cases of a guy benefiting majorly from another’s screw-up. In 1993, Shawn Michaels was riding high as Intercontinental champion, a fantastic heel and terrific with his drive. But Shawn (by his own admission) was a total wreck behind the scenes with his actions. After a massive screw up (the company claims he failed a drug test but Shawn says it was just his partying), they took action.

On-screen WWE President Jack Tunny announced Shawn had missed several title defenses and thus stripped him of the IC title and suspended him (which was for real).

A battle royal was held with Razor Ramon and Rick Martel the only two left. Ramon then beat Martel for the title, allowing Scott Hall to finally achieve his potential. Michaels would soon return, setting up a great feud with their classic ladder match. While Ramon was already rising as a star, it was Shawn’s screw up that led Razor to the top.

7 Bobby Lashley Gets A Long Title Reign Off Of MVP’s Fall

TNA has had their issues with an obsession for “evil pack of heels” trying to run the company. In 2014, they did it once more as MVP had been brought on as the new “majority investor” in the company and at first an on-screen face authority figure. But he then turned heel on Eric Young and created the Beat Down Club with the intention of running wild.

The plan was obviously for MVP to beat Young for the title and use it to dominate more. But on a tour, MVP suffered a leg injury that threw the plan off so Lashley won the title instead. That was going to be brief but then MVP was made the fall guy over the mess of Hernandez signing with Lucha Underground and soon fired. Thus, a brief reign by Lashley turned out to be longer to give him some new life and show yet again how TNA’s idiocy could lead to big changes.

6 Styles Wins The Title Back After Mahal’s Gaffe

From the day it began, Jinder Mahal’s reign as WWE Champion was trashed by fans. Elevating this lower-card guy to champion in no time flat was a ridiculous move and fans just didn’t buy into him. It got worse with his constant cheating and going over more talented and popular guys way too much. For some reason, McMahon had a serious mad-on for Mahal and kept on going despite how ratings were falling and fans loathing it. What finally clinched it was when Mahal got in hot water over making racist insults on Nakamura during their feud. Many felt it crossed the line majorly and Mahal’s attitude backstage not helping.

Thus, in November of 2017, out of the blue on SmackDown, AJ Styles beat Mahal for the title. It was a huge moment for fans and a pickup in ratings as Styles was better a choice for champion than Mahal had been. While it took this gaffe to make the overdue switch happened, fans were happy for it.

5 Summer Danced Over Eva Marie

It’s no secret Eva Marie is not as well regarded as other WWE ladies. She was a stunning looker with her great curves and lush red hair and “Total Divas” gave her a nice push. However, her in-ring work was absolutely horrible and worse was her refusal to learn the basics. WWE did intend to give her a push by having her as the on-screen dance partner for Fandango and that actually had promise.

After a few botched dances, Eva was forced to confess she’d lied about her dance experience. This led to her being taken off TV and Summer Rae got the job instead.

This actually led to some success for Rae, moving from Fandango to a decent run and even with Dolph Ziggler. While Rae was eventually cut, she still benefited massively from Eva’s messing up and danced her way to some success.

4 Balor (And Owens) Rule Off Of Roman’s Wellness Policy Violation

In 2016, WWE was beginning to split the brands and let both RAW and SmackDown have titles. With then WWE champ Dean Ambrose heading to SmackDown, that left RAW to create the Universal title and naturally, most assumed Roman Reigns would get it. However, this was when Reigns was coming off a 30 day suspension for breaking the wellness policy and as much as WWE has an obsession for the guy, they knew full well giving him a brand new championship in the middle of this was not going to go over well. So in the no.1 contender tournament match, Roman ended up eating the pin as Finn Balor would go on to face Seth Rollins to win the inaugural title.

Sadly, thanks to a severe shoulder injury in that match, Balor had to immediately vacate the title.

Again, it was believed Roman would get it on a special rematch on RAW. This time, he ended up getting a pedigree from Triple H on the outside, then Kevin Owens pinning Seth Rollins to win the belt (which seemed to be punishment for Rollins injuring Balor in the first place). So Balor and Owens can thank Roman’s screw-up for breaking in the Universal title.

3 Moolah Benefits Off the Original Screwjob

The Fabulous Moolah is a complex figure in wrestling. She is regarded as a groundbreaker for female workers and his record decades-long title reign is revered. But Moolah also has the shadow of how she basically “pimped out” girls under her contracts for promoters and her reputation not as sterling since her death. Back in 1985, she was still a major force but Wendi Richter was the bigger star for the company.

As women’s champion, Richter was a huge deal and decided to hold up Vince for more money. Sadly, she overestimated her appeal and Vince decided to punish her badly.

Richter was facing the masked Spider Lady at a Madison Square Garden show, the Spider pulling off some familiar moves. She got Richter down, and Richter clearly kicked out but the ref counted three. Richter unmasked Spider, who was Moolah, realizing she’d been screwed. Richter was soon gone and Moolah dominating once more to prove her survival instincts if nothing else.

2 Enzo Pushed Over Neville’s Disdain

True, in the end, it turned out rather bad but still counts. Neville had been doing a good job for WWE as “the man gravity forgot” and looking great in the ring. He first got a good push in 205 Live as when Austin Aries left over creative differences, Neville was pushed as the champion. He was happy about it at first but soon had issues with WWE over his push. He wasn’t happy that 205 Live seemed to be ignored so much and wanted a bigger boost for his own career as well.

This did not go over well as soon Enzo Amore was brought to 205 Live to boost up ratings and Neville dropped the title to Enzo and pushed down hard. It would backfire as Enzo was fired while champion after his treatment of women came up and WWE trying to get Neville but still shows Enzo benefiting from Neville treated so badly.

1 Austin 3:16 Created by the Curtain Call

One has to wonder how vastly different all of wrestling today would be without this. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (he wasn’t quite Triple H yet) was on the rise in WWE in 1996, over as a heel and real promise. The idea was for him to win the King of the Ring and be elevated up more as a main eventer. However, in May, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall joined their Kliq buddies Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman and Hunter in a huge group hug on Hall and Nash’s last night in the company. Today, it wouldn’t be a bit deal but in 1996, this was a massive breaking of kayfabe and folks were outraged.

Someone had to pay and with Nash and Hall gone, Waltman about to join and Shawn the champ, there was just one person left. Hunter had his KOTR win taken away and spending months in the lower ranks. This paved the way for Steve Austin to win KOTR, cut the Austin 3:16 speech and change the entire course of wrestling history. It is amazing how this punishment led to so much change in WWE and rocking the wrestling world.

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